Wednesday, February 21, 2007
New Comments
Hey guys, as a part of sort of reimagining this blog, I'm switching to Blogger comments so that I can use word verification. I'm getting wayyyy too much XXX spam. So, I hope this works to help stop that!
Hey guys, as a part of sort of reimagining this blog, I'm switching to Blogger comments so that I can use word verification. I'm getting wayyyy too much XXX spam. So, I hope this works to help stop that!
Monday, February 05, 2007
French Adventures!
French internet hates me. I couldn't sleep last night, so I came into the living room of our apartment to write a blog post. The internet connection was being spotty, so I tried saving what I wrote into a Word document. I guess I didn't get one or two of the first paragraphs. Anyway, I'll try to recreate it here and paste what I did save, and then I'll tack on today's activities to the end.
After showering on Saturday, Victor and I walked just a few blocks away from our apartment to the Cimetière Montmartre, where we saw the graves of such famous people as Edgar Degas and François Truffaut. The cemeteries here are similar to those in New Orleans, where many of the graves are above ground, and there are ornate mausoleums. Afterward, we started climbing through the streets of Montmartre to Sacre Coeur.
Sacre Coeur was very grand, if a little over the top. We worked our way through the crowds and gawked at the tourist traps surrounding it. There were a ton of painters around the Place du Tetre, and all of them wanted to do a portrait or caricature of everyone. We walked down through the winding streets, catching a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We walked past the Moulin de la Galette, an old windmill that was painted by Renoir. We also saw Le Studio 28, where Victor informed me there were riots after the one of the first showings of Bunuel's L'Age d'Or. We made our way back toward the apartment following Rue Lepic, which has a ton of little markets. Turning the corner at the end of the street, we noticed we were entering Pigalle, which is sort of the red-light district, with lots of sex shops and clubs. Oh, and the Moulin Rouge. Yep, we stumbled upon that too.
After recuperating for a moment, we tried booking dinner at a place Victor had picked. My French is terrible and has been made worse by taking Spanish classes, but I summoned up the courage to try calling the restaurant. No answer. We decided to start walking toward the metro stop that would get us there. We took a detour at Les Galeries Lafayette, a grand, huge department store. They were having a huge sale, and it was incredibly crowded. Right next to the Galeries is the Paris Opera, which brought back the 15-year-old obsessed with Phantom of the Opera in me. It was too late to see it properly, so we headed into the metro to get to the restaurant.
It was booked solid. No reservation, no entry. We chose another restaurant from the guidebook.. no, wait. Before I keep going, let me just say one thing. Arriving on Saturday and leaving on Tuesday is not good if you want to eat out in this town. First of all, you need reservations at most places. Second, lots of places are closed on Sunday and Monday. We're pretty much screwed trying to eat at some of the places that were recommended to us. Anyway, to continue the story, we picked another restaurant, took the metro to it, and the same thing happened. No reservation, no luck. Feeling a bit defeated, we decided to head back to our 'hood.
We got back to the apartment and decided to try one last place, Le Petit Caboulot. They answered, and, in my nicely-accented but horribly constructed French, I reserved us a table. We booked it all the way to the restaurant. The waiter brought us both French and English menus, but he didn't speak a word of English to us. We ordered in (really awful) French. I had snails in fried ravioli (more like wontons) to start, then duck confit, and then a tarte tatin (apple tart) for dessert. Victor had saucisson de Lyon, duck confit, and profiteroles. The food was incredibly tasty and rich. We took hot baths when we got home and hit the sack.
Sunday morning, we walked back up to the Rue Lepic to pick up some breakfast items and stuff for dinner (see above, most restaurants closed on Sunday). We had eggs (yummy brown eggs) and croissants for breakfast at the apartment. We decided that, since the Louvre is free on Sundays, we would grab the metro down to the Louvre area. We got a wild hair when we were in the metro station that we would get out at the Arc de Triomphe and walk to the Louvre on the Champs Elysees. And that's what we did. The Arc de Triomphe was way bigger than I remembered, and damn, the Avenue des Champs Elysees is long. After walking the entire thing, we went in the Louvre.
It took us a couple of hours to see what we wanted to see (about 1/3 or maybe 1/2 of the museum). I was ecstatic to see one of my favorite David paintings, the Coronation of Josephine, and some frescoes by Botticelli. Victor enjoyed the Italian and Spanish painting. We both thought the Mona Lisa was pretty anticlimactic, and I kind of felt that way about the Venus di Milo. Our feet were dying by the time we got out of the museum, but we decided to see Notre Dame before hitting a cafe.
We walked across the Seine and went down to Pont Neuf so that we could cross onto the Île de la Cité. We saw the Palais du Justice and decided to pay the entrance fee to Sainte-Chappelle. What a pleasant surprise to find out that it was free! They were doing a lot of restoration work inside and out, but it was still incredibly beautiful. Tons of stained glass (literally, tons) and high, vaulted ceilings. We went to Notre-Dame next. It was quite impressive, especially since Sunday Mass was going on when we were in there. I felt bad being a tourist during a religious ceremony, but we were quiet and enjoyed listening to the choir and viewing the pomp and circumstance that is a high Catholic mass.
With the afternoon beginning to fade, we decided to make it out to the Cimetière Montparnasse to see Samuel Beckett's and Serge Gainsbourg's graves. While there, we also saw the graves of Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Henri Langlois, plus many more.
Still aching for a sit-down at a cafe, we headed up to the Saint-Germain district. We had coffee and blinis at the Café de Flore. Afterward, we wandered up the boulevard, gaping at amazing shop windows (mostly at the modern bathroom stuff, like tubs and sinks). We decided to take a quick look at the Eiffel Tower at night before heading back home. It was really pretty. I had seen it lit up once before, New Year's Eve 1997, when I celebrated with study abroad buddies under it. But this time I was much more sober! As the clock struck 8, the entire tower lit up with strobe lights for ten minutes.
We walked down toward the Ecole Militaire to grab the metro back home, and we got some good pictures of the Tower from a distance. We came home to a meal of baguette, pâte, brie, and butter. Très, très healthy. Oh, and we had a bottle of wine.
Today was overcast and cold, so we decided to do some shopping. After hitting two huge H&Ms and the department store Printemps, we headed to the Marais for vintage shopping. Victor found a corduroy jacket for 20 euros. We had awesome falafel sandwiches at a restaurant that the New York Times had recommended. We then went over to the St. Germain district for a wee bit more shopping, and Victor stopped by some famous cinemas.
We finished the day with hot chocolate at Angelina (so, so good) and a bit of souvenir shopping. After a quick rest at home, we ventured out to the 19th arrondissement to a little brasserie, A La Bière, recommended by our TimeOut guide. It was very cheap and full of Paris hipsters.
Now it's time to say goodbye to our little apartment. We have to pack tonight and wake up early for our flight tomorrow. Paris, we enjoyed you!
French internet hates me. I couldn't sleep last night, so I came into the living room of our apartment to write a blog post. The internet connection was being spotty, so I tried saving what I wrote into a Word document. I guess I didn't get one or two of the first paragraphs. Anyway, I'll try to recreate it here and paste what I did save, and then I'll tack on today's activities to the end.
After showering on Saturday, Victor and I walked just a few blocks away from our apartment to the Cimetière Montmartre, where we saw the graves of such famous people as Edgar Degas and François Truffaut. The cemeteries here are similar to those in New Orleans, where many of the graves are above ground, and there are ornate mausoleums. Afterward, we started climbing through the streets of Montmartre to Sacre Coeur.
Sacre Coeur was very grand, if a little over the top. We worked our way through the crowds and gawked at the tourist traps surrounding it. There were a ton of painters around the Place du Tetre, and all of them wanted to do a portrait or caricature of everyone. We walked down through the winding streets, catching a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We walked past the Moulin de la Galette, an old windmill that was painted by Renoir. We also saw Le Studio 28, where Victor informed me there were riots after the one of the first showings of Bunuel's L'Age d'Or. We made our way back toward the apartment following Rue Lepic, which has a ton of little markets. Turning the corner at the end of the street, we noticed we were entering Pigalle, which is sort of the red-light district, with lots of sex shops and clubs. Oh, and the Moulin Rouge. Yep, we stumbled upon that too.
After recuperating for a moment, we tried booking dinner at a place Victor had picked. My French is terrible and has been made worse by taking Spanish classes, but I summoned up the courage to try calling the restaurant. No answer. We decided to start walking toward the metro stop that would get us there. We took a detour at Les Galeries Lafayette, a grand, huge department store. They were having a huge sale, and it was incredibly crowded. Right next to the Galeries is the Paris Opera, which brought back the 15-year-old obsessed with Phantom of the Opera in me. It was too late to see it properly, so we headed into the metro to get to the restaurant.
It was booked solid. No reservation, no entry. We chose another restaurant from the guidebook.. no, wait. Before I keep going, let me just say one thing. Arriving on Saturday and leaving on Tuesday is not good if you want to eat out in this town. First of all, you need reservations at most places. Second, lots of places are closed on Sunday and Monday. We're pretty much screwed trying to eat at some of the places that were recommended to us. Anyway, to continue the story, we picked another restaurant, took the metro to it, and the same thing happened. No reservation, no luck. Feeling a bit defeated, we decided to head back to our 'hood.
We got back to the apartment and decided to try one last place, Le Petit Caboulot. They answered, and, in my nicely-accented but horribly constructed French, I reserved us a table. We booked it all the way to the restaurant. The waiter brought us both French and English menus, but he didn't speak a word of English to us. We ordered in (really awful) French. I had snails in fried ravioli (more like wontons) to start, then duck confit, and then a tarte tatin (apple tart) for dessert. Victor had saucisson de Lyon, duck confit, and profiteroles. The food was incredibly tasty and rich. We took hot baths when we got home and hit the sack.
Sunday morning, we walked back up to the Rue Lepic to pick up some breakfast items and stuff for dinner (see above, most restaurants closed on Sunday). We had eggs (yummy brown eggs) and croissants for breakfast at the apartment. We decided that, since the Louvre is free on Sundays, we would grab the metro down to the Louvre area. We got a wild hair when we were in the metro station that we would get out at the Arc de Triomphe and walk to the Louvre on the Champs Elysees. And that's what we did. The Arc de Triomphe was way bigger than I remembered, and damn, the Avenue des Champs Elysees is long. After walking the entire thing, we went in the Louvre.
It took us a couple of hours to see what we wanted to see (about 1/3 or maybe 1/2 of the museum). I was ecstatic to see one of my favorite David paintings, the Coronation of Josephine, and some frescoes by Botticelli. Victor enjoyed the Italian and Spanish painting. We both thought the Mona Lisa was pretty anticlimactic, and I kind of felt that way about the Venus di Milo. Our feet were dying by the time we got out of the museum, but we decided to see Notre Dame before hitting a cafe.
We walked across the Seine and went down to Pont Neuf so that we could cross onto the Île de la Cité. We saw the Palais du Justice and decided to pay the entrance fee to Sainte-Chappelle. What a pleasant surprise to find out that it was free! They were doing a lot of restoration work inside and out, but it was still incredibly beautiful. Tons of stained glass (literally, tons) and high, vaulted ceilings. We went to Notre-Dame next. It was quite impressive, especially since Sunday Mass was going on when we were in there. I felt bad being a tourist during a religious ceremony, but we were quiet and enjoyed listening to the choir and viewing the pomp and circumstance that is a high Catholic mass.
With the afternoon beginning to fade, we decided to make it out to the Cimetière Montparnasse to see Samuel Beckett's and Serge Gainsbourg's graves. While there, we also saw the graves of Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Henri Langlois, plus many more.
Still aching for a sit-down at a cafe, we headed up to the Saint-Germain district. We had coffee and blinis at the Café de Flore. Afterward, we wandered up the boulevard, gaping at amazing shop windows (mostly at the modern bathroom stuff, like tubs and sinks). We decided to take a quick look at the Eiffel Tower at night before heading back home. It was really pretty. I had seen it lit up once before, New Year's Eve 1997, when I celebrated with study abroad buddies under it. But this time I was much more sober! As the clock struck 8, the entire tower lit up with strobe lights for ten minutes.
We walked down toward the Ecole Militaire to grab the metro back home, and we got some good pictures of the Tower from a distance. We came home to a meal of baguette, pâte, brie, and butter. Très, très healthy. Oh, and we had a bottle of wine.
Today was overcast and cold, so we decided to do some shopping. After hitting two huge H&Ms and the department store Printemps, we headed to the Marais for vintage shopping. Victor found a corduroy jacket for 20 euros. We had awesome falafel sandwiches at a restaurant that the New York Times had recommended. We then went over to the St. Germain district for a wee bit more shopping, and Victor stopped by some famous cinemas.
We finished the day with hot chocolate at Angelina (so, so good) and a bit of souvenir shopping. After a quick rest at home, we ventured out to the 19th arrondissement to a little brasserie, A La Bière, recommended by our TimeOut guide. It was very cheap and full of Paris hipsters.
Now it's time to say goodbye to our little apartment. We have to pack tonight and wake up early for our flight tomorrow. Paris, we enjoyed you!
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Bonjour!
We're in France! Paris, to be exact. We are here for a three-day weekend, arriving this morning and returning Tuesday morning.
We rented a cute apartment, and I'm excited to not be staying in a hotel. The apartment has free wi-fi, so we brought Victor's laptop and the converter. I'm hoping it doesn't melt or something.
Our flight was two and a half hours late taking off, due to a mechanical problem. Also, once the problem was fixed, they couldn't find two passengers. They were in the midst of taking off their luggage when the passengers turned up. Uggh. We didn't get business class seats, but coach was pretty empty so we both had a three-seat row to ourselves. I took Tylenol PM and a glass of wine, and I slept most of the trip. I feel great! As soon as I've showered (Victor is showering now), I'll be ready to explore!
We're in France! Paris, to be exact. We are here for a three-day weekend, arriving this morning and returning Tuesday morning.
We rented a cute apartment, and I'm excited to not be staying in a hotel. The apartment has free wi-fi, so we brought Victor's laptop and the converter. I'm hoping it doesn't melt or something.
Our flight was two and a half hours late taking off, due to a mechanical problem. Also, once the problem was fixed, they couldn't find two passengers. They were in the midst of taking off their luggage when the passengers turned up. Uggh. We didn't get business class seats, but coach was pretty empty so we both had a three-seat row to ourselves. I took Tylenol PM and a glass of wine, and I slept most of the trip. I feel great! As soon as I've showered (Victor is showering now), I'll be ready to explore!
